In the New Economy it is no longer necessary for all advertisements to use methods of direct product promotion to sell; rather some advertisements are simply intended to work towards promoting brand awareness, often through an entertaining means. Is this method of brand promotion an effective means of communicating with the target audience? It will be argued that companies using the new economy principles of brading advertise messages which are inherently ambiguous and do not demonstrate a call to action. The notion of branding in the new economy will be explored by deconstructing an American Express television commercial using the tools of communication by means of semiotic analysis. This essay will demonstrate how the principles of intertexuality, representation, ideologies and branding all work together to sell to the intended audience.
First penned in the late 1990ÃÂÃÂs the new economy is the term which is used to describe the ÃÂÃÂcapitalisation and commercialisation of knowledge, especially via the use of interactive media.ÃÂÃÂ
(Hartley, 2002, 162) A key idea described by Coyle is that ÃÂÃÂvalue no longer lies in three-dimensional objects in space;ÃÂÃÂ the economy has become ÃÂÃÂweightlessÃÂÃÂ. The principles underlying the new economy have also been captured in the description of the ÃÂÃÂinformation, intangible, knowledge, network and access economy.ÃÂÃÂ (Gallagher, 2007) Increasingly firms are tailoring their business practices in order to adapt to these new economic conditions.
Since its founding in 1850, American Express has tailored their products, especially their credit cards to the upper end of the market. Recently however the company is attempting to broaden its market segment of affluent and elite customers through their latest campaign advertisements entitled ÃÂÃÂMy Life, My CardÃÂÃÂ. Each instalment in the series features a prominent celebrity ranging from Hollywood actors and actresses to sports stars. However the focus of this essay will be to...